


Just Girly Things

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Blood, Caring Sam Winchester, Comfort, Cuddling, Embarrassment, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Heightened Emotions, Intimidating Dean Winchester, Nervousness, Non-Graphic Mensuration, Pain, Painful Cramping, Panic, Secrets, Slight Fear, Some Swearing, Stress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 05:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3558101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grace is put under the protection of the Winchesters indefinitely, while Bobby goes on the hunt to find out what happened to her parents.<br/>All is well until the unthinkable happens, Graces gets her period and is too embarrassed to tell the brothers she needs things.<br/>Grace tries to hide from the brothers when she gets an embarrassing stain on her clothes.<br/>Dean becomes suspicious of her nervous behavior and ends up frightening her.<br/>They find out what she's hiding and react in an unexpected way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Girly Things

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a prompt for this fic on tumbler and ended up writing my version :)
> 
> For those of you who are curious, this odd squeezing method used on Grace in the fic can actually provide relief from painful feminine cramps! My friends tell me it helps them too, so I think it's worth a shot if you've never tried it :) 
> 
> Enjoy!

Bobby had instructed the Winchesters to watch over Grace, while he searched for her parents. He told her he was with the FBI and would be taking lead on her parents case, easy enough to lie about when he'd been doing it his whole life.

Her parents had mysteriously disappeared about two weeks ago, and he still had no leads to where they might’ve gone. However he could feel it in his gut that something less than natural was going on with their disappearance, so he listened to that feeling.

It never steered him wrong before.

At first Grace could tell that Dean wasn’t happy with the assignment that he so rudely referred to as _“babysitting”_ , but Sam was extremely welcoming from the beginning.

“She’s 18 Dean, she’s an adult.” he pointed out to his grumpy brother. She liked Sam immediately, and even went as far as cuddling with him when she got upset about her parents.

As it was she managed to win over the oldest with a few homemade meals and spontaneous classic rock duets. He was calling her Little Gracie and letting her ride around the bunker on his shoulders in no time. She felt like she’d gained two older brothers.

Two very very sexy older brothers.

That was just a perk though.

However there was something off about the two . . . Like they had seen some shit. Every once and a while she would catch one of them staring intensely at a glass of whiskey, or aggressively taking apart weapons only to put them back together.

When Grace would see these things, she would give them their space, admittedly a little afraid of how unstable they seemed at times. It didn’t end there though.

They would accidentally startle her in the hallway on a daily basis, because they moved with natural silent stealth. When she tried to be sneaky, and get back at them they would know exactly where she was no matter how quiet she thought she was being.

It was all sorts of strange.

 

All of this lead to the girl’s current predicament.

 

Grace had been living with the Winchesters for a month now, and as it happened the bunker wasn’t exactly equipped with feminine care products. And Grace, being the procrastinator that she is, thought she could just wait until they all went on a routine store run and sneak a package of tampons through the checkout line before they noticed she was gone.

The idea of outright asking the brothers about the topic was so mortifying that the girl was sure she would simply dissolve into thin air if she tried.

The only person her ever talked about it with was her mom _once_. But even _that_ was unbearably uncomfortable.

She was now hiding in the room Sam gave her biting back painful moans with every intense onslaught of abdominal pain. Grace had wrapped herself in blankets, and only left the room once for snacks, taking care to sneak around the Winchesters to avoid any potentially awkward questions.

The only problem was that she didn’t have anything to stop the flow.

Wadded up toilet paper was a dangerous choice, and would only last for about two hours at a time. . . She was so fucked.

Truthfully she would have been holed up in the drafty room anyway, even if they knew. Grace was one of the lucky ladies that had the type of inescapable cramps that were so ridiculously painful, to simply function at an everyday level was virtually impossible for her.

There were stories about women who would go through the week never feeling a thing, they could go about their daily activities with little to no inconvenience and barely notice that it was their time of the month at all.

Not her though.

Grace was sure this was what hell was like.

So just like she did every month, she would just stay in bed for the four days it took her period to end. Another shooting pain fired off in her lower abdomen, and it had her shriveling up in the tiny twin bed with a loud groan.

She was relieved that neither Sam or Dean had come to check on her all day.

 _They probably think I died. ._ Another gut turning contraction made itself known. . . _I’m probably_ going _to die._

The miserable girl was just rolling herself out of bed to make the long journey to the bathroom when there was a soft knock at the door,

“Hey Grace, it’s Sam. . . Are you feeling okay?” _Oh God stay out there._

“Uh yeah-I mean no!” she yelled a little too eagerly, “My stomach just feels a little funny, I need to chill for a while I think.” It wasn't entirely a lie.

“Alright,” his voice sounded unsure, “Let me know if you need anything.” _Now would be a perfect time to let him know you idiot! Walk your happy ass over to the door and tell him the problem. . . He’ll totally understand!_

“Oh thanks, I’m good!” she yelled back cheerily. _You fucking dumbass._

Once his footsteps faded, Grace tiptoed to the door and cracked it open.

Looking down at the outfit of choice, she decided that it would be best if no one saw her like this. The only clothes she had on were one of the brother’s button downs that brushed her just above the knees, and her favorite comfy cotton underwear.

The bathroom was just down the hallway, and around the corner.

Totally close enough for her to run to without being seen.

Taking one more look through the corridor, she held her breath against the discomfort that running would definitely cause and booked it across the cold stone floor. The pattering of her little bare feet wasn’t loud enough to draw attention from a normal person, but the Winchesters weren’t normal people.

Both brothers probably knew exactly where she was. Despite that fact, she made it to the bathroom unseen at least.

Upon hiking up the musky smelling man shirt and lowering her underwear, an unthinkable fear was confirmed. A significant red spot was laughing up at her from the otherwise perfectly white panties.

“Oh God no. . .” Grace breathed. Hurrying to the mirror, her let the shirt fall back into place and stood on her tiptoes to inspect the back of it for any damages. Sure enough the bright red spot was copied on the part of the shirt covering her butt.

Doing what any rational woman would do, she balled up more toilet paper, pulled the ruined underwear back on, and proceeded to search the entire bathroom for hydrogen peroxide to remove all the stains she was likely to produce for the next couple days.

None. Nowhere.

 _“Fuck.”_ she whispered harshly. The only goal at this point was getting back to the room without being seen by either of the brothers in the hallway. She would worry about the stains later.

Putting one hand behind herself to cover the obvious spot, she grasped the handle and took a deep breath. _I can do this._ Putting an eye to the door, she cracked it open just enough to peek through but was faced with a moment of confusion when she saw nothing but plaid.

Grace’s eyes traced it all the way up to a wry smirk worn by none other than Dean Winchester. _Shit_.

“Hiya kiddo, about done in there?” the girl’s face was flaming, and she knew he noticed because his green eyes glinted mischievously in return. All she could do was stare at him,

“You hiding a stray dog in here or something?” She blinked trying to snap herself out of an internal panic,

“Uh-no!” she practically yelled in his face, and let the door fall open the rest of the way, “It’s all yours.” she kept a hand behind her back and edged out of the door, awkwardly keeping her front to Dean at all times.

He watched her shoot an over the shoulder glance, and didn’t move from his spot between her and the safety of the bedroom.

His expression turned suspicious,

“I don’t mean to make any false accusations, but it really seems like you're hiding something from me.” _Oh if only he knew._

“What? _No_!” the young girl’s voice was still higher than normal, and it caused him to turn completely toward her giving her his undivided attention.

“What do you got behind your back there,” his tone became serious as he gestured to arm circling to her backside.

“N-nothing!” _Oh man this is going South so fast._

_Relax! You’re acting crazy!_

He took a slow step toward her, and he looked like he was trying to read her mind. When she instinctively hopped back from him, he straightened completely and his features hardened into an expression that made her feel like she had to pee again.

Grace was still backing away from him, attempting to circle around him. With the idea of backing up all the way to her room.

If she was being honest, the way he was looking at her was sort of scaring her a little, like he was sizing her up to _fight_ her or something. It made it hard to think.

If only she knew the types of worries that plagued the Winchesters.

“Sam!” his sudden bark made her jump, and she slammed a hand over her mouth to stifle a yelp of surprise. Dean’s suspicious glare held her attention, until she heard heavy footfalls thundering toward her from around the corner.

“What’s going on here?” Sam’s voice was confused, and his tone snapped her gaze away from Dean’s.

“Little _Gracie’s_ hiding something,” Dean usually used that nickname affectionately, but this time it sounded a touch sinister, “she’s acting all flighty around me all the sudden,” he took another step toward her and she put up one hand imploringly.

Grace was pressing her aching body nervously away from him, her back now touching the cold stone wall.

“Grace?” Sam questioned.

“No it’s nothing Sam, I just don’t feel good.” she plead with him, desperately wanting to go back to her room. _They’re gonna find out._ With her heightened emotions she wasn’t surprised that her eyes started welling up at the notion of embarrassment.

Dean however, naturally took it as a sign of fear, which wasn’t exactly too far off either.

“Show me your hand!” Dean suddenly yelled. He had never raised his voice toward her and it scared her, so the hand shot up from behind her back immediately.

Both brothers glanced at it for a moment before Dean asked the question of death,

“What do you got back there, Gracie?” his menacing use of her nickname made her physically flinch that time. Nerves coupled with the stress of the situation triggered another intense contraction and a tear finally slipped out at the sudden pain.

“N- _nothing_ ,” she whispered shrilly. Dean wasn’t buying it and Sam had begun to look just as suspicious,

“Turn around then,” Sam challenged taking a step toward her so he was well within arms length. Dean copied him so they had the small girl trapped on the wall.

When Grace only shook her head frantically their stares became borderline hostile, and more tears fell at the thought of them seeing what she was hiding.

“I can’t-” she started and watched them both cock their heads to the side, and move closer with identical displays of intimidation. It seemed to come naturally to them, and she questioned her limited knowledge of the two brothers.

“Then I’ll help you,” Dean growled sharply. Grace put her hands up again and blinked back more desperate tears,

“No don’t, just let me go back to the room and I’ll explain everything later,” she plead up at him, “this isn’t even a big deal! You’ll probably laugh about it!” _Or throw up. One or the other._

“Don’t think so Sugar,” he muttered at her before suddenly grabbing her upper arm and jerking it sharply, she knew he was only hinting for her to turn though.

“No-Dean!” she screamed at him and fought against his grip. Grace looked up to most understanding of the two men and practically begged him,

“Please Sam, I swear I’ll explain everything lat-” she was cut off as Dean used his full strength on her. Of course the small girl was no match for it, she was effortlessly spun around and slammed into the rough stone wall.

His hand came to the back of her neck to hold her thrashing form in place. Grace pathetically tried to reach back and cover her backside from view, which only resulted in Dean yelling again,

“Move your damn hands!” she did, his angry roaring voice rendering her unable to do anything other than what he said. By the time she heard both men take in sharp breaths, she was sobbing into the stone wall.

A little because of the pain that Dean was causing, but mostly because of the humiliation that came crashing down on her in soul shattering waves.

Grace felt Dean’s hands immediately disappear upon discovering the secret, and after a moment of horrible silence she slowly turned around to face the music.

No one was there though.

Both men had left her there in the hallway alone.

She couldn’t blame them, even after six years she still thought it was disgusting and awkward and explicit. And what would they have said anyway? She slid down the rough wall, ignoring the way the shirt bunched up around her waist, and cried humiliated tears into her knees.

_I’ll of course move out tomorrow. Maybe kill myself. Who knows? Sky’s the limit at this point._

She expected that they had gone back to the main room to talk about how disgusting and childish she was about this whole thing. Expected that they would judge her for being too afraid to tell them, or realize that it was a bad idea to let an eighteen year old girl live with them because of this type of drama bullshit.

What she wasn’t expecting however, was feeling solid strong arms snake behind her knees and squeeze behind her back.

She didn’t expect for them to lift her effortlessly off of the floor and pull her to a warm hard chest, and she definitely didn’t expect to hear Dean Winchester murmur comfortingly into her ear.

“Hey kiddo, you’re alright. Just breath, no one’s mad at you Sweetheart,” but he did. And she rolled her head to cry into his strong shoulder, while he walked her back toward her room.

Grace’s body jerked with jagged breaths, and he pressed her more firmly into him while he carried her,

“I’m so sorry Dean, this was all so stupid- I should've told you guys sooner. Or not at all. . . Oh _god_ this is so embarrassing. Just leave me outside and let me freeze to death please I-” “Hey hey, shh. . .” he interrupted her rambling and even chuckled a little,

“I said it’s _alright_ , you have nothing to apologize for.” the girl couldn’t manage to compose herself though, so she just continued to shakily breathe into his shirt.

He gently kicked open her door, and crossed the room to lay her on the mattress, even taking the time to tuck her in under the soft comforter. To her increasing curiosity, he pulled a bundle of items off of his shoulder,

“New clothes,” he held up a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, then tossed them on the chair next to the bed, “heating pad.” he dangled that in front of her with a grin, “Sammy said you’d like it. . . he’s better than me when it comes to this stuff I guess. . .” he looked down on her curled up in the blanket.

She still couldn’t get a grip, and even though Dean knew it was only the hormones heightening her emotions he felt guilty for outing her like he did. She started rambling at the man before he could say anything, not that he had a clue what to say. Her voice was rising in pitch as more tears came,

“Oh my God. . . I’m so embarrassed. You guys are probably so disgusted by me. . . _This is so disgusting!_ I’m sorry- this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, I swear it’s never happened before- and-”

“If you don’t stop apologizing I’m gaggin you till Sam gets back, kid.” his voice was serious, but his smile betrayed him when her worried eyes flashed up to his. Grace sniveled and asked in a hopeful tone,

“S-so you’re not grossed out?” Dean scoffed and plopped down next to her on the tiny mattress,

“I’m a grown man sweetheart. And I’m willing to bet I’ve been around more blood than you’ve ever even seen - TV included.” when the girl still didn’t look convinced he added sincerely, “This type of thing stopped bothering me years ago.” her face reddened in embarrassment when he gestured to her pelvic region for emphasise.

“Oh.” that was all she could think to say at the moment, and he patted her hip casually as he stood,

“Why don’t you grab a shower and relax for a bit,” he suggested when he saw the tears still weren’t slowing, “Sam should be back from the store pretty quick.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t stop crying. . .” she hiccuped, “you must think I’m psycho.” he turned back to her with out-of-place swiftness and narrowed his eyes, she was surprised at the sudden fierce change in expression.

“What did I say about apologizing Gracie?” his tone was low, and her fingers fisted the blankets instinctively. She remembered how scary his yelling had been before, and didn’t want to experience anything like it again.

She stared at the irritated man wide-eyed with worry for what felt like forever before his face finally cracked into a beautiful smile,

“I’m just kiddin kiddo. You should’ve seen the look on your face though. . .” there was the Dean she knew, the one who would no-doubt tease her mercilessly for the rest of her life about this whole thing.

She was wondering when he would show back up and make her feel like shit.

She quickly scurried out of the bed, even though she was careful not to look at him, she caught his loin-melting smile falter at her reaction.

“I’m taking a shower,” she whispered against humiliated tears and backed into the bathroom as fast as her feet would allow. When the door slammed, Dean stood dumbfounded for a moment in the room, before shaking his head and muttering,

“Friggen girls man. . .”

 

***

Dean walked into the bunker’s main room, just as Sam came slamming through the door with two large brown paper bags in his arms. Dean laughed aloud at the frantic look on his little brother’s face,

“I don’t think she needs _that_ many,” he chuckled as Sam tossed the groceries onto the big wooden table.

“You’re an idiot, that’s not all I got her.” he snapped, “Where is she?”

“Shower.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“Yep.”

“Is she alright?”

“Won’t quit bawling.” Dean received a disapproving look for that one, then Sam nodded seeming to be lost in thought.

“That’s how Jess used to be too,” he gave a small sad smile. Dean watched his little brother give a sharp shake of his head before looking over at him, “I feel terrible about the whole thing, she must feel so embarrassed.” Dean nodded.

“I told her if she didn’t quit apologizing to me I’d gag her,” he grinned widely, “she believed me.” Sam shook his head,

“Did you give her the-”

“Yeah yeah, she’s fine.”

“Dean.”

“I’ll talk to her more, okay?” Sam nodded once and grabbed up the bags again,

“Good,” he turned to head to her room, “we were pretty hard on her, and I think you might’ve scared her a little too.”

“Nah I think that was all you sasquatch,” Dean quipped just before Sam disappeared down the hall, but he knew deep down that he had been the one she’d been afraid of.

***

Grace emerged from the shower to find a box of tampons and a package of pads on the floor right next to the door with a sticky note that had " _didn’t know which you preferred. Take two pills"_ scrawled on it. Only then did she notice the small bottle of Midol behind the products.

_Oh thank God._

She giggled to herself and got dressed in the oversized clean clothes Dean had given her, she was surprised at how thoughtful Sam had been at the store.

Grace emerged from the bathroom to find Sam sitting patiently on the edge of her bed,

“Hey,” he smiled softly, “doin alright?” her face turned red again, and she nodded. The shower actually had calmed her down enough to stop crying,

“Thank you guys for everything, I am _so_ sorry about all this.” he was quiet so she continued, “I mean- I’m _eighteen_! I should be able to fucking tell someone I need tampons, right?” she was yelling, and she could feel her anger growing.

All of a sudden there was a huge chocolate bar being shoved into her hand, and she looked up to see Sam smiling down at her.

“I had a feeling this would come in handy,” she returned his smile with a giggle, but set the chocolate down on the bed,

“I can’t have it though, my stomach hurts.” she mumbled miserably, “you can leave if you want to. . I’d totally understand.”

“Not a chance,” he pulled the covers up to reveal the heating pad Dean had given her, “lay down on your stomach.” he instructed. She nodded uncertainly and did as she was told,

“Does this help?” she asked curiously.

“Yeah,” she heard him pause like he was contemplating something, “there’s something else that will help if you’ll let me do it.”

“Oh God anything,” she groaned as another cramp clawed at her insides,

“Alright then, relax,” she felt him shift on the bed, and started getting nervous,

“Wait, but what are you doing?”

“Shh, just relax and trust me.” Grace felt one of his strong arms wrap around her back and the other slide under the heating pad beneath her. She gasped in discomfort as he easily turned her to her side so he was pressed against her back and his arms were wrapped around her just above the hips,

“Sam. . .?” she heard him chuckle at the uncertainty in her voice,

“Keep breathing steadily,” he instructed as he ever so gently applied pressure to her lower abdomen. He heard a sharp intake of breath snap out of Grace and he stopped pushing,

“Sam that hurts,” she whispered breathlessly. Before she could protest further he squeezed her hard and held the pressure centered on her uterus. “Ahh- _Oh!_ ” she suddenly relaxed into him and he smiled continuing to hold tightly, her breathing was once again normal,

“Feel good?” he asked softly, it was a trick he’d learned from his time with Jess, for some reason this technique works wonders on a cramping woman. Jess used to have him sit on her lower back but he figured that would freak Grace out.

“Yeah. . .” she sighed, “I can hardly feel it anymore, how did you know this would help?”

“Oh just something I picked up over the years,” she thought she heard a note of sadness in his voice, but decided not to comment for fear he would stop squeezing her. Her door burst open suddenly,

“ _Whoa!_ Am I interrupting something in here?” Dean’s dazzling smile was back mischievous as ever, “because I could’ve sworn from the conversation I was hearing a second ago, you two were gettin down to it.” he winked at Grace, her face was flaming.

“Dude don’t be gross,” Sam snapped from behind Grace, “now get over her and do this for me, I need to make dinner.” _Wait,_ Dean _was going to do this? Oh no. . ._

“I don’t even know what you're doing, I’ll probably snap her in half by accident.” _Yeah that’s exactly what will happen._  

To her dismay Sam’s arms disappeared and he rose from the bed too quickly for her to react. As soon as the pressure was gone, the pain came back.

“Wait-” Sam was looking down at her with the most comforting smile she’s ever seen,

“It’ll be fine,” his brown eyes promised her it would be, “Dean get in there, and put your arms exactly where mine were.” Dean stared at Sam for a second, before he finally sighed dramatically and made his way over to the bed.

When Grace saw the irritated look on his face, she second guessed the idea again,

“You know I feel a lot better,” Sam looked on her with a furrowed brow clearly not buying it, “yeah I-I’m totally fine now, you can both go make dinner.” she glanced over at Dean and jumped a little at his expression.

His green eyes were narrowed again, and he was studying her like he’d done in the hallway just before he’d gotten angry. Averting her gaze she started kneading the sheet in her hand again, trying not to look as nervous as she felt.

Grace had never seen Dean angry before, and it had really frightened her for some reason. People had yelled at her in the past, and she had never considered herself to be fragile, but something about the brothers had her shaking in her socks.

She supposed that kind of behavior came with their line of work though, however it was unnerving that he had resorted to violence almost immediately. She recalled the odd behavior she’s been seeing lately, and wondered if something wasn’t actually wrong with them.

_Bobby wouldn’t have sent me to live with a couple psychos right?_

Then again she didn’t know Bobby that well either. When Dean finally spoke it visibly startled her,

“Bullshit,” she caught Sam pass a silent message to his older brother, “Move over Sweetheart, you’re not fooling anyone.” she wanted to protest, but found herself afraid that doing so would make him yell at her again.

So he just bit her lip and tried to calm down as Dean settled in where Sam had been. God she felt so tiny next to him, and she resisted the bizarre urge to curl into a ball and cry.

Sam was concerned with her reaction to being so close to Dean, his suspicions about Dean scaring her earlier were confirmed. He wanted her to know that she had nothing to be afraid of,

“Alright just wrap your arms around her like I did,” both brothers noticed her small wince at Dean’s touch, “clasp your hands together and press them right over her uterus.” Sam had never been squeamish about using medical terms, but he saw Grace’s face blush and heard Dean grunt uncomfortably.

“Now squeeze down gently until she feels comfortable, see you both in a bit.” with that Sam walked out of the room. Grace was thankful that he left the door open,

“You’re not squeezing,” she whispered timidly, very aware of the warmth radiating off of him.

“I was waiting for you to start _breathing_ again,” he pointed out gruffly, “ready?” she nodded,

“Just don’t squeeze too hard, please.” she reminded him nervously, realizing that he could practically break her in half if he wanted to. He didn’t answer. Instead she felt his steel muscles contract around her hips, as he began to apply pressure to her midsection.

The girl had stiffened significantly in his arms, he could feel a hint of fear emanating from her and supposed it was well justified given his outburst in the hallway. She held her breath as the pain increased, and waited for that perfect amount of pressure to happen like it had with Sam.

“ _Ow_. . .” she whined by accident, and he stopped squeezing immediately,

“Uh, should I stop?” he was unsure, a feeling Dean Winchester wasn’t accustomed to,

“No it hurt at first when Sam did it too, but he kept squeezing until it stopped.”

“Alright,” she drew in a sharp breath when he resumed and just like before there was sudden blissful relief,

“Ahh, it worked,” she breathed gratefully, he was still for a minute but decided to cut the crap,

“Look Grace, I’m sorry I scared you out in the hallway earlier,” she waited but he didn’t continue,

“I’m not scared.”

“You’re a bad liar,” he warned, “The only time you should be afraid of me is if you’re intentionally putting me or my brother in danger."

“Or if you think I am,” she corrected

“Exactly,” he answered sarcastically then changed the subject quickly, “Does this still feel alright?” he flexed his arms experimentally.

“Yeah,” she breathed, “how is Sam so good at this kind of thing?” she wondered aloud, Dean was quiet for a moment and Grace was worried she’d hit a nerve.

When he spoke his voice was soft and full of pain,

“He was with this girl for a while. . .” he cleared his throat, “they were gonna get married and everything. That’s how he knows about all this crap.”

“What happened. .?” she could feel how thin the ice was, but had to try and make it across the lake.

“It didn’t work out,” his voice darkened, and she knew the ice had cracked out from under her,

“Sorry-”

“Stop apologizing to me Grace!” he boomed suddenly, drawing a yelp from the now frightened girl. He didn’t realize that his arms had tightened hurtfully around her, but she was too afraid to say anything to him.

So she bit her lip and curled inward slightly against the pain, hoping he would calm down in a second.

The sheer size difference between them suddenly became prominent to her, and the thought that he could so easily hurt her if he wanted to crept into Grace’s mind. She could actually feel his anger in the air, and she couldn’t help the small tremble that coursed through her.

Dean felt it and it only irritated him more, he thought for sure if she started up that damned crying again it would set him completely off. He said the words before he realized how harsh they sounded,

“Don’t you start fucking crying again,” it even sounded like a growl to him, and he mentally kicked himself,

“B-but you’re _hurting_ me,” she whimpered, voice already thick with the threat of tears. He quickly loosened his grip when he realized how hard he was squeezing her, and her small voice broke the silence again, “and it scares me when you get mad. . . Especially when you yell.” he was quiet, not sure how to respond to that.

Dean knew that feeling himself from when he was her age, his father sure was a son of a bitch. He supposed some of that rubbed off on him, and wasn’t surprised that the girl was frightened once he actually thought about it.

“I’m scared Dean.” she admitted in a quiet whisper, and the sound made him flinch a little with guilt.

“Don’t be.” he grumbled, “You just hit a nerve is all. And I hate hearing _“I’m sorry”_. It’s a sign of weakness and it’s a sure way to piss me off.” Yep just like his father.

“I see you both around the bunker acting differently when you think I’m not around, like something’s wrong.” she admitted, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to know about,” he snapped, “we’re dealing with it.”

“Okay sor-” she froze and stopped the word from naturally coming out, she jumped when he chuckled into the top of her head.

“Relax Gracie,” to her relief he seemed to be much more calm, “my only concern right now is getting you comfortable, and mending fences.”

“You know this has to be a monthly ritual now, right?” she dared to tease him, and all she got in return was a humorous snort from behind her. “But seriously thank you for doing this Dean, I know this isn’t your thing.” despite all this weirdness, she was grateful for the relief he was providing at the moment.

“No problem, this isn’t half bad for me either,”

“Dean Winchester is a fan of _cuddling?”_ she asked in mock shock.

“Better take that to your grave, sweetheart.” he warned playfully,

“You have my word.” he actually chuckled at that, causing her to grin triumphantly. When they were like this, Grace could forget about the brother’s odd behavior.

She could stop the insidious curiosities about the things they did in secret, and she preferred it that way. Preferred it because she was sure she really didn’t want to know. Truthfully Grace was happy pretending that they thought of her as a little sister and the highlight of their day was watching movies together before bed.

She let herself believe the only reason Dean was so good at wrestling was because he did it in high school, and that all the time Sam spent in the library was for personal education. And that all the weapons lying around were just collectibles or something.

In her mind they were really just normal brothers who happened to live together in a bunker in Kansas.

Ignorance, as she decided, truly could be bliss.

Grace wouldn’t go digging into things she didn’t want to find out. After a long comfortable silence between her and Dean, she felt like she might actually be able to fall asleep with him.

His steady breathing and strong heartbeat on the back of her head was lulling her gently toward unconsciousness, and she was about to gratefully accept it. But out of nowhere a delicious smell wafted in from the kitchen, and she was surprised that she felt good enough to actually feel hungry.

Dean felt her stomach rumble under his hands,

“How about you and I go see what Sam’s got cookin? I think he even grabbed you some cranberry juice from the store.”

“Sounds good.”


End file.
